Peppa Pig and Thunderbirds star David Graham dies aged 99
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Actor David Graham, best known for lending his voice to characters in British TV series including Peppa Pig, Doctor Who and Thunderbirds, has died at the age of 99.
On Doctor Who, Graham voiced the evil Daleks in the 1960s and the 1970s. He also served as the voice of the butler and chauffer Aloysius Parker in Thunderbirds in the 1960s as well as its movie sequels.
However, to today’s generation of children, he’s perhaps best known for voicing Grandpa Pig in the animated series Peppa Pig. Grandpa Pig, also referred to as “Papa Ig” by his grandson George, is married to Grandma Pig and is the father of Mummy Pig and Aunt Dottie.
“We’re incredibly sad to confirm the passing of the legendary David Graham,” reads a post shared on Thunderbirds creator Gerry Anderson’s X account.
“The voice [of] Parker, Gordon Tracy, Brains and so many more. David was always a wonderful friend to us here at Anderson Entertainment. We will miss you dearly, David. Our thoughts are with David’s friends and family.”
Anderson’s son, director and producer Jamie Anderson, remembered Graham as “a great actor, iconic voice, and all round lovely man.” “We’ll all miss him very much,” he tweeted.
Born in 1925 in London, the British voice actor served in the Royal Air Force as a radar mechanic during World War II.
Following his service, he moved to the US, where he trained at New York’s Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre.
Graham later returned to the UK, where he began his acting career on stage.
“At school I always wanted to say the poem or read the story. I always wanted to act,” he told The Mirror in 2015.
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He landed his first on-screen credit in the 1952 TV movie Portrait of Peter Perowne.
Besides Thunderbirds and Doctor Who, Graham also voiced notable characters in numerous Sixties shows, such as Supercar, Sarah and Hoppity, Fireball XL5 and Stingray.
In 2021, Graham announced he was retiring from Thunderbirds. Early the next year, it was reported that he was “housebound” after suffering a stroke six months prior.
Fellow Doctor Who star George Layton shared at the time that Graham was “making a great recovery doing voice work from home.”
Graham’s final projects included voicing Zeke in the children’s animated series Toca Life Stories and voicing Grandpa Pig in several Peppa Pig video games.
